Scaling Bigger, Faster, Cheaper Data Centers with Smarter Designs

McKinsey has announced a comprehensive analysis and recommendations for scaling data centers to meet the surging demand driven by AI and digital transformation.

• Global capital expenditures on data center infrastructure are projected to exceed $1.7 trillion by 2030, with the US needing to triple power capacity from 25 GW in 2024 to over 80 GW by 2030.
• The report identifies key challenges including power supply constraints, cooling technology choices, skilled labor shortages, and supply chain issues, and proposes six focus areas such as scalable reference designs, integrated delivery models, rethinking redundancy, modular construction, cooling technology bets, and collaborative contracting to improve efficiency and reduce costs by up to $250 billion.